U-CF School Board takes stock and looks forward

08/13/2014 06:17PM
● By Lev

By John Chambless

Staff Writer

With just a few days remaining before
the start of classes, the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board met on
Aug. 11 to look back over projects completed during the summer, and
look forward to what needs to be done.

At a meeting of the Curriculum and
Educational Technology Committee, board members discussed next week's
vote on updating the graduation requirements at Unionville High
School. In response to a state mandate, the board will vote on adding
the Keystone Exams to the list of requirements for graduating
seniors. Students graduating in 2015 and 2016 need to complete a
culminating project. Beginning with the class of 2017, students will
not have to do a project, but will be required to show proficiency on
algebra 1, biology and literature Keystone Exams, or “a related
project-based assessment.”

Board member Kathleen Do admitted that
“there will be school boards in the state who vote no on the
Keystones. A lot of districts don't want these graduation
requirements and will vote them down,” she said.

Board member Jeff Hellrung added,
“Probably what will happen is that the law will be changed,
unfortunately. I'm proud of our district for embracing this. We're
one of the few.”

The committee also heard from a panel
of district teachers and principals about the phase-in of a more
stringent oversight plan for teachers called the Teacher
Effectiveness System, or Act 82. The program, which began two years
ago, is being phased in district-wide in the next two years.

Formerly, teachers were evaluated based
solely on evaluations of their classroom methods. The new system is
based on classroom observation as well as a demonstration of personal
growth in a concentrated area. Teachers wll track their own growth
and present a reflective written piece that will demonstrate growth.

In a presentation to the committee, the
reason for Act 82 was said to be “to move teachers from viewing
evaluation as an obligation to be endured, to an opportunity to be
seized through professional development.”

In 2014-15, between two and five
tenured teachers in each building will have fall and spring progress
reports. There will be a re-evaluation in the spring and summer of
2015, and full implementation in the 2015-16 school year. The program
is not for teachers in their first three years of teaching. Only
those with three or more years of classroom experience wll be the
subjects of the evaluations.

Hellrung thanked the teachers and
principals who had been working with the new evaluation system,
saying, “To see this develop through cooperation is so positive and
constructive. It's really nice to see.”

Ken Batchelor, the assistant to the
district superintendent, said, “We're compliant with state
guidelines on this, but at the same time, we're looking at something
that will improve ourselves. The way teachers were self-evaluating
last year has been very positive.”

The subject of class sizes in the
district's elementary schools was examined in depth, with the
director of curriculum and instruction, John Nolen, saying that
first-grade enrollment at Pocopson Elementary School has already
reached the recommended maximum of 23 students per classroom.
Traditionally, eight or nine additional students register within the
first three months of the school year, Nolen said, so the
administration would recommend hiring an additional first-grade
teacher at Pocopson.

Several board members questioned
whether it's too late to hire an additional teacher, but Nolen said
there is a large pool of qualified applicants who could start on
short notice. “We have complete confidence that we can bring in an
excellent teacher,” he said. “We have tons of applicants. People
want to work here.”

Hellrung said he wasn't comfortable
with adding the expense of a new hire, but district superintendent
John Sanville pointed out the importance of a smooth first-grade
classroom environment. “Assuming that we repeat our usual history,
we would recommend adding a first-grade teacher,” he told the
board.

Any hiring would need to be approved at
next week's school board meeting.

At the work session that followed the
curriculum meeting, the board heard from Rick Hostetler, the
supervisor of buildings and grounds, about the extensive work that
has been done over the summer, particularly at Patton Middle School,
which is being renovated. “There's been a tremendous amount of work
done this summer,” he said. “In my 23 years in the district, this
has been one of the busiest summers I've ever seen.”

Everything on the district's to-do list
should be completed before the end of September, Hostetler said.

He also detailed the replacement of the
high school cafeteria's floor. The problem of discolored tiles in the
room was caused by moisture that had penetrated joints in the
concrete, some of which dated back to the building's construction in
the 1950s, as well as current joints. The whole cafeteria floor was
eventually replaced, with a new vapor barrier, floor leveling
materials and new tile. The repair cost was divided between the
architect, contractor and the district, Hostetler said, with the
district picking up 76 percent of the cost, at $82,000. “That was
the fairest way for everyone,” he said of the cost-splitting.

A representative from MM Architects
also attended the meeting to discuss a problem with the roof of the
auditorium at Unionville High School. During a heavy rain, there is
excessive noise that reverberates inside the auditorium, and the
cause, so far, is a mystery. The construction of the roof has been
examined and everything seems to be fine, and there has been no
problem with other roofs built the same way.

Referring to the controversy over the
auditorium being built too high, board member Steve Simonson joked,
“Would this be happening if the roof was three inches closer to the
ground?” and got some laughs from the other board members.

The board and the architect will
examine the problem further before any recommendations are made.

In other business, a recent audit of
the district by the Auditor General resulted in no issues being
found, according to Robert Cochran, the district's director of
business and operations.

“A clean performance audit is
indicative of the good work that the people around this table are
doing,” Sanville said.

New board member Robert Sage added, “I
spent time as an auditor, and I have to say that it's rare to see a
clean audit like this. So, congratulations.”

Sage is the new chair of the policy
committee, and he reported on the progress the district is making in
revising and updating some 300 policies on the books. “At the
current pace, it would take more than eight years to revise all of
our policies,” Sage told the board. To speed up the process, he
recommended fast-tracking the more straightforward policies, and
spending an appropriate amount of time on more controversial
policies, with a goal of completing the policy overhaul by November
of 2016.

“This is something that needs to be
done,” Sanville said. “Most of the district's policies have not
been touched since about 2003.”

To bring all the policies up to date,
“We school board members need to let some things go, and not argue
over every semicolon,” Hellrung said.

The board thanked Sage for his report
and agreed to work together to speed up the revision process.

Finally, the board heard from Sanville
about the district's contract with David Voss and Associates, who
were hired to streamline and improve the district's communications
efforts. The contract came to an end on June 30, and the company has
delivered all of the items on a list given to them when the contract
was signed in February. A cleaner website, improved commnication with
parents and between schools, as well as a crisis communications plan,
have all been implemented, Sanville said. He recommended extending
the Voss contract for the upcoming school year, “in an amount not
to exceed $25,000.”

“All of us are not trained in
communications,” Sanville told the board. “So having that
expertise on call adds value to the organization.”

The contract extension will be an
action item for the board in September.

The Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board
will meet on Aug. 18 in the district office conference room (740
Unionville Rd., Kennett Square). Visit www.ucfsd.org
for updated information.